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Marriage, divorce, and promiscuity in human B cells

Nature Immunology volume 1, pages 187–188 (2000)Cite this article

It is becoming more apparent that some B cells do not carry the same antigen receptors throughout their life. B cells that have edited their receptors have now been found in humans as rare cells that accumulate in arthritic joints.

The conventional view of the permanence of successful pair-bonding between immunoglobulin heavy (H) and light (L) chains was shattered when Nemazee and Weigert independently discovered that B cells could catalyze the divorce and remarriage of a heavy chain to a new light chain, a process they termed receptor editing1. The phenomenon was described in a highly unusual setting—that is transgenic mice bearing autoreactive antibodies wherein only those B cells that had altered their antibody were likely to survive—and so the marriage between a heavy and a light chain was under considerable, abnormal pressure. The contribution of receptor editing to B cell development in mice and humans, in both normal and diseased states, continues to be an open issue, and one that is investigated by Meffe et al. in this issue of Nature Immunology 6

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Figure 1: Differences in H3CDR3 size and shape are illustrated in this comparison of four known antibody structures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, 35294-3300, AL, USA

    Harry W. Schroeder Jr. & Perry M. Kirkham

  2. Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, 35294-3300, AL, USA

    Harry W. Schroeder Jr.

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  1. Harry W. Schroeder Jr.
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  2. Perry M. Kirkham
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Schroeder, H., Kirkham, P. Marriage, divorce, and promiscuity in human B cells. Nat Immunol 1, 187–188 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/79717

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